Curse of Cyttorak
by Zorakk
Summary: Power Pack fought Dr. Doom to a standstill, will they be able to do as well with ... the Juggernaught!
1. Default Chapter

* * *

**THE CURSE OF CYTORRAK**  
Guest Starring: THE JUGGERNAUT  
The Alternate Adventures of Power Pack  
Power Pack #32a 

* * *

**Prologue**  
It was windy and cold in Manhattan that mid March afternoon. The sky was monotone pewter, and the evening twilight was streaked by intermittent snow flakes that melted as soon as they touched the dingy sidewalks. The sigh/swoosh of the Metro Transit District's super conductor brakes made ripples in a large puddle at the corner of Central Park West and 71st Street in front of a storm drain clogged with old newspapers, discarded trash and general detritus. 

"Wheeee!" Katie Power shouted at the top of her volume as she jumped off the last step of the maglev bus and into the inches deep puddle of brackish water, sending a huge fountain of the stuff into the air and away from her. Jack had taught her that! A passing pedestrian, who was not so lucky, caught the full brunt of Katie's splash wave. He shot the kindergartner a dirty look and then snarled something incomprehensible to Katie's mother, Margaret Power, who had by now caught up with her free wheeling daughter and clamped her hand in a tight, parental grip.

"_Nooooohh Mmmooommmmmmyyyyyyy_!" Katie whined, tugging at her hand. "That's too tight!"

Margaret Power's head hurt. The headache which had been only a mild annoyance earlier in the afternoon, compounded by some kind of mutant hay fever, was now a full-blown migraine. Julie had already volunteered to fix supper for the Power brood; and all Margaret wanted now was an hour or so in a hot bubble bath and then to crawl into bed.

Julie Power took Katie's other hand. "_Nice going, Godzilla_!" she whispered to her baby sister.

"But ---"

"If you're going to stomp in puddles, you should at least watch out for other people," Julie said in her _Official Big Sister_ tone of voice. It didn't work very well with Jack, being only occasionally effective -- but with Katie it was still 100 effective in restraining her rambunctious little sister.

"We'll have to stop at the 7-11 Quickie-mart," Margaret said as they walked the half block to 12 West 71st Street. "What are you going to make for supper Julie?"

"We haven't had our quota of junk food yet this week, mom," Julie said laughing. "I'm going to make us _Junk Food a la Julie_."

"Hamburgers and French fries," Margaret sighed.

"And _COKE_-a-cola!" Katie added enthusiastically.

The trio pushed open the main doors to the Rampart Apartments and welcomed the blast of warm air that greeted them. Across the wide expanse of the building's lobby was the 7-11 market, which even though its prices were higher than supermarket prices, had been a lifesaver before. Margaret again thanked the Fates that it was here. After an hour and a half of Julie and Katie's ballet lessons at the Julliard, Margaret doubted that she would survive a trip to a supermarket. It was Friday, and that meant that the 7-11 was crowded with people shopping for the weekend and cashing paychecks, but it was still much faster than a trip to AP.

"Why don't you go upstairs, Mom. You look worn out."

"Thanks, Julie," Margaret grinned weakly, "that's very kind, but I want to make sure you don't go overboard on the junk food. No Chocolate Sugar Bombs cereal."

"Aww, Mom! That was _JACK_..." Julie started to protest until she saw her mother's wide grin.

"_Gotcha_!" Margaret laughed, pointing an index finger at her fifth grade daughter.

The three Power women had just started their shopping when there was the unmistakable roar of a shotgun blast and a loud guttural voice yelled: "_Dis be a stick up! Ebbrybody on de flow_!"

**BOO-YAHH**! another shotgun blast ripped through the store, destroying a display of canned goods.

"NOW!"

Silence fell over the store and only the shrill ringing of the burglar alarm could be heard.

"_Gimme dat money_!" One of the hooded holdup me growled, towering over the teenage girl at the check out stand. He leveled the shotgun at the girl's chest --- wicket promise glinting in his dark eyes.

"My God," Margaret thought "She's just a baby -- only a few years older than Alex.."

Katie and Julie had hit the floor along with everyone else; and Julie had rolled over behind a stack of 50-pound dog food bags, dragging Katie after her.

"Julie? Katie?" Margaret's voice was tinged with the first hint of panic.

"We're Okay, Mom."

"_Shut UP_!" one of the holdup men roared and nervously chambered another round into the shotgun's breech.

"Costume on!" Julie whispered and nudged Katie. "I'll cloud up the store for you - you try and fly full speed at that display rack those two goons are standing in front of. If we knock it over on them, they may be startled enough so that Mr. Copellini can do something."

"Okay," Katie whispered, her Kymellian costume flickering into solid reality around her skinny body.

"Give me a minute or two to fog up the place so that Mom won't be able to see what's going on - and the bad guys won't see you when you make your move."

"A-Okay," Katie said and made an 'oh' with her thumb and index finger as her older sister began to create a dense, smoke like fog. Katie launched herself and flew at the display rack, just as someone shouted:

"F I R E !" someone yelled.

"_Hhhuuuhhh_?" one of the holdup men turned around and let loose another salvo from his shotgun. The huge slugs passed through Julie's insubstantial body harmlessly and shattered a rack of wine coolers. Out of the corner of her eye, Julie caught the polychromatic streak that marked her little sister's passage as she orbited the store once to build up speed. Starstreak collided full force with the display rack which collapsed on to the two hold up men. Only because she was used to following the supersonic movements of her younger sister was Julie able to see Katie return to the safety of the stack of dog food sacks. By the time that Julie had finished resolidifing, the Police were there.

"That was quick thinking of you, Julie," Margaret said, taking both girls hand's firmly with her own.

Julie's heart skipped a beat. "What do you mean. Mom?"

"Getting behind those bags of dog food. I'd bet they were every bit as good as sandbags!"

"Oh yeah," Julie said relieved, "that."

Katie winked at her older sister.

The secret was still safe.

* * *

CHAPTER ONE  
Trouble on the Homefront

* * *

Julie Power had a sinking feeling in her stomach as she turned the key in the deadbolt lock of apartment #12D. There were loud, angry voices drifting out into the hallway, and this, just when Mom wasn't feeling well. The scene that faced the three Power women as they entered was 9-year-old Jack Power, hand on his hips, leaning forward slightly on the balls of his feet, his eyes blazing with electric blue rage. Half way across the living room, still holding a stack of books and CD-ROM disks for his CompuPal in his arms, 12-year-old Alex Power was also in a fighting posture, obviously boiling mad. 

"Just what good are you anyway?" Jack was screaming. "You're always bragging about how much you know about programming ..."

"And what good are you?" Alex responded angrily. "You're so concerned about some hotshot sports jock's ERA, but you don't even know how to calculate it!"

"At least I know what an ERA is!" Jack snarled.

Suddenly a third voice, edged with adult displeasure sliced through the argument. It was not a loud voice, but it held just enough parental irritation to immediately command silence and attention.

"**That's enough**!" Margaret Power said. "I don't care what this argument is about. I don't care who started it ---I declare a two hour moratorium on further arguments, or discussion. I'm going to try and relax in a nice warm bubble bath and try to shed this killer headache before your father comes home. Anyone who I hear arguing WILL be grounded for thirty days."

Both Power boys glared at each other , but acknowledged the moratorium.

"All right," Margaret sighed. "Julie, will you please start supper?"

"Okay Mom," Julie said, "and I'll see if I can negotiate a peace treaty between the boys."

"That would be super," Margaret said, "as long as I don't have to hear them screaming at each other." She closed the door to the master bedroom.

"Tweedle dumb and Tweedle dumber..." Katie snickered.

Julie glared at her younger sister who was still high on adrenaline from the holdup adventure and longing to brag to Jack about it. Her 'Tweedle dumb' comment would only cause Jack to dig in and make any kind of settlement between her stubborn brothers nearly impossible. But Julie was determined to attempt it because she wanted this evening to be as pleasant as she could make it for her parents.

"So? What happened?" Asked Julie.

"I don't know," Alex said. "The little _troll_ just went off on me when I came through the door."

"See what I mean?" exploded Jack. "You're so wrapped up with that _GIRL_," the nine-year-old made the last word sound like an expletive, "That you don't even remember that you promised to help our Cub Scout den program R2 for the science fair!"

"Wait a minute," Julie said, holding up both her hands, "This is getting us nowhere. I know you guys are mad at each other, but you've got to stop fighting!" Julie said, fixing her gaze first on Alex and then on Jack.

Grudgingly, both boys agreed.

"You go first, Jack," Julie said. Katie sat on the couch and curled her feet up under herself, catlike, her attention riveted on Jack.

Jack took a deep breathe and said: "Last week, Alex promised to come to my Cub Scout den meeting .We're working on our project for the Scout Science Fair ... it's a Heathkit R2-D2 robot. The problem is that the robot will only go forwards or backwards ... we must have made a mistake somewhere ... We want to reprogram it so that it will go around objects," Jack turned to scowl at Alex, "And Alex _PROMISED_ to help!"

Julie turned to look questioningly at Alex.

"I had to go to the library today..."

"To be with Allison!" Jack spat.

"Yes, Allison is my study buddy for the paper we have to write. It's important!"

"Why?" asked Katie.

"Because I'm 12 now, old enough to vote -- and so is Allison, but we've got to get our Voting Certification first ... and this term paper is part of the process for our civics class," Alex said. "If we don't pass American Government, American History and Civics, we can't vote."

"So that's why you didn't go to Jack's Cub Scout meeting?" Julie asked.

"No," Alex admitted quietly, "the truth is, Jack's right, I forgot! You see Allison and I were REALLY ..."

Jack sat down on the couch next to Katie, a satisfied smile on his face. "Case closed!" he said.

"You were smooching, weren't you?" Katie teased.

Alex instantly turned bright red; his blush was made even brighter looking by his sun golden hair.

"Ah-hah!" Katie roared.

Julie, the Power family romantic, grinned at her older brother, while Jack looked on with disgust etched into his boyish features. He'd seen over the past few months how goofy Alex could get around Allison when they fought Dr. Doom last month. Alex had even let Allison learn of Power Pack's existence. But there had really been no choice that time, and Allison _had_ done an excellent job of keeping Power Pack's existence secret.

"Jack," Alex began, "I'm sorry I forgot all about the Cub Scouts today; but I DID do some work on the problem." Alex began to rummage through the pile of books and Compu-pal CDs, finally holding up one. "This will get you guys started I think!" he said.

Julie sat down beside Jack and put her arm around her younger brother's shoulder. "Don't most of the kids in your den live right here in the building?"

"Yeah ... so?"

"Well, it seems to me that since this is Friday night, and there's no school tomorrow, you might be able to get together tonight and do this ... what'da'ya think?"

"Great!" Jack said. "I'll make some phone calls," and he headed for the phone.

"Thanks, Julie," Alex said. "I really mean that, I was really an idiot for forgetting about that scout meeting."

"Alex ..." Katie said impatiently pulling on her brother's arm, "Alex ...?"

The blonde 12-year-old reached down and scooped his almost 6-year-old sister up into his arms. "Okay, _WHAT_ is so important?"

"Julie and I catched some crooks!" Katie bragged.

"Caught," Julie corrected her.

"Huh?" Alex said a little bewildered. Katie began to tell Alex about the attempted robbery and how it was foiled by the female half of Power Pack.

* * *

Meanwhile Margaret Power was relaxing in a tub full of hot water and scented bubble bath. It seemed that this was the first opportunity that she'd had to actually relax since things had started to get a little bit crazy around Thanksgiving of last year. First there had been the long hospital stay following an almost unbelievable attack by a renegade elf named 'Kurse' some how it didn't seem right, elves were supposed to be mythical creatures -- but since science had developed the trans-dimensional portal, there seemed to be more and more 'mythical' creatures showing up in the world. Then the earth shaking revelations about the Kymellians, Snarks and the Fantastic Four -- none of which were public knowledge, and so could not be talked about openly -- it was enough to make her head swim, no wonder she was more susceptible to stress headaches now. 

Margaret allowed herself a few minutes daydream about herself, not as a professional artist, and mother of four preteen children, but as Rebecca Savage, Agent of S. H. I. E. L. D. and defender of freedom. Margaret's fantasy alter ego was a multi-talented mutant. She could fly, form an inpenitraitable force field and throw hypervoltage lightning bolts at her nemesis, The Baroness, sister of the Red Skull. Rebecca was also an expert in infiltration and stealth. Many were the times that she had saved the day by just being unobserved and listening to Hydra's future plans. Ahhh -- that was the life ...

All too soon, Margaret was dragged away from her daydream and back to reality by worries about how she was ever going to catch up. That the sixty days in the hospital had put her way behind in her art chores ...Then the blasted CCD digitizes of the easel in her studio had blown out several chips during a particularly savage electrical storm last month. Fortunately her genius son, Alex, and his dad had been able to obtain some old 32-bit processors and BIOS chips which they had somehow managed to coax into emulating the easel's Intel 786dx 64-bit microprocessor. Actually for a hardwired nightmare of wires, capacitors, VLSIC chips and lord knew what else, it worked well enough, except for several dozen shades of red ochre that Margaret could not coax the easel into displaying. Luckily for the family's joint income, Jim had surprised her with a new 48x60 inch CCD high definition digitized easel and a 0.12mm light pen. He'd said it was an early anniversary gift ... ha, ha, Jim! she thought.

The new easel had allowed her to catch up on her work, and at precisely 2:31 p.m. that very afternoon she had finished and uploaded to _ARTSYNET_ for Mort the last of the production illos for that new Tri-D ... _STAR TROLLS_ or something like that. The old slimedevil actually had the gall - after she had finished 36 paintings in under sixty days, some of them twelve and fourteen hours long - to suggest a NEW project.

After sputtering incoherently for an instant, she had realized that her agent was teasing her, as if she were his baby sister! She had half jokingly told him that she'd be unavailable for new commissions for at least thirty days ... even though they BOTH knew she'd be back at her easel by Thursday at the very latest.

"_Ahh, but that's THURSDAY_," Margaret sighed ".._.for tonight_..." She let herself sink lower into the soothing waters, almost up to her chin, and returned to the Adventures of Rebecca Savage.

* * *

"Okay," Jack said, hanging up the phone after having made several calls all over the apartment building. "We can get together for an hour at 7:30 tonight at Mrs. Lambert's; she's nice though, so I think we can get her to give us another half an hour, till nine o'clock, if we're really making any progress. This is Friday after all. Do you think we can do in that amount of time?" 

"I think it'll be enough to get a good start, anyway," Alex said. "A lot will depend on R2 himself, on how much memory is left, we'll need at least 400 k-bytes."

The phone rang again.

"I'll get it," roared Katie, as she and Jack both made a dive in the direction of the phone. Jack being hampered by a coffee table in the way, was a split second behind Katie as she grabbed the phone out of its cradle and stuck out her tongue at Jack.

"Hello, Power residence ... DADDY!" Katie paused to listen for a minute and then nodded, "Okay Daddy, I'll tell them." Then she hung up the phone before anyone could stop her -- the act of ultimate power by a six-year-old.

"What'did'ya do THAT for?" Jask questioned a little irritated with his younger sister. "I wanted to talk to him before we go down stairs to Mrs. Lambert's."

"He's right down stairs," Katie gloated, "He wants us to help carry some stuff."

"What stuff?" Julie asked.

"Oh, just some chairs or something."

"Chairs?" Alex looked at Jack as they went out the door. Jack just shrugged.

Moments later the elevator doors opened in the lobby of the Rampart Apartments.

"Great!" Dr. Power said, "Just what I need, extra hands. Grab a chair kids." The 37-year-old Associate Professor of Physics at Columbia was surrounded by six high backed wooden chairs.

"Holy cow!" Jack muttered looking at the dayglow orange and bright lime green colored chairs, "What're these?"

"Your mom is gonna love 'em," their Dad predicted. "C'mon, let's get them upstairs."

"I would n't count on it," Jack said as he grabbed a green painted chair and headed for the elevator.

'I think she'll say 'ugh!' and throw them out," was Alex's comment.

"No, she won't," Dad said confidently, "Come on, grab a chair."

The elevator was a little crowded with five people and six chars, but within a minute or two they were back on the 12th floor. Katie ran on ahead to open the door, leaving Alex to struggle with two chairs nearly as large as he was.

Margaret Power was in the kitchen, putting the hamburgers on the grill.

"No, Mom," Julie said, abandoning her chair just inside the door. "I'll get dinner ready, you just come here and look at the gawdawful chairs dad found."

"What?" Margaret said puzzled as she went into the living room; then she caught sight of the chairs.

"Oh Jim, THEY'RE BEAUTIFUL, absolutely beautiful!"

"Beautiful," Jack muttered sarcastically under his breath, wondering what could have happened to his mother's eyesight.

"I knew you'd love them as soon as I saw them," the academic Power said. "Someone has dumped this horrible dayglow paint on them ..."

"Yes," Margaret agreed, "but look at the beautiful grain of the wood," gently caressing the old chair she continued her examination. "Someone has put a lot of time and effort into building them. They're assembled with wooden pegs, not nails or staples."

"Is that good?" asked Katie sitting on one of the orange chairs.

"Oh yes," Margaret said. "I know they look really ugly right now, but you just wait until they've been sanded down and had a coat of clear lacquer, these chairs might have been made over two hundred years ago..."

"Great, just what we need, antiques!" Jack said.

Jim Power playful grabbed his youngest son. "Yes, its JUST what we need." He began to tickle the little boy. Dr. Power was instantly mobbed by his other three children.

"C'mon, you guys," Dr. Power said standing up, Julie draped across one shoulder and Jack across the other. "Let's let Mom start planning what she wants to do with her new chairs." The mob scene moved on into the living room, with Katie securely fixed on Dr. Power's right foot and Alex tugging on his left arm. Julie started to return to the kitchen, but her mother shooed her away.

**To be continued ... **


	2. Chapter Two

* * *

CHAPTER TWO  
Saturday Morning, 0700

* * *

Saturday mornings in Apartment 12D followed a familiar pattern, a predictable pattern, formed so far in the past that not even Alex could remember a time when the pattern was any different. The familiarity of the pattern was comforting to the four children who had more happen to them in the past eight months than normal kids do in their entire childhood. All four Power children were in the living room, sitting in front of the TV watching Saturday morning kidvid. The volume on the TV was uncommonly low, but by mutual consent, no one complained -- because to engage in argument, or to increase the volume above the level set by the audio wizard Alex -- who had long ago mastered the exact setting that would allow the Power Parents to continue to sleep -- would risk awakening the adults asleep in the bedroom and thereby break the spell of Saturday Morning. 

Alex, still in his underwear, sprawled on the couch with Katie laying against him in her night gown, using his stomach for a pillow. Jack was laying on his stomach, less than two feet from the 32-inch plasma color screen; and Julie was sitting on the love seat 90 degrees away from the main sofa with her feet tucked up under her. Scattered over the living room and on into the dining room and kitchen was the debris of breakfast, nearly an hour ago: bowls and spoons, a half empty box of Raisin Brand and another of Chocolate Sugar Bombs which Jack had managed to smuggle into a recent grocery cart while his mother was in the hospital was precariously balanced on the edge of the pass-thru that linked the kitchen and dining room. On the dining room table itself were milk spills, a gallon container of milk with a single swallow left in it, spilled sugar and jam smears all of which competed with a piece of overdone toast for space on the table.

On the TV, _Sherlock Holmes in the 22nd Century_ was on. Alex liked the program especially and tried to mirror the values that Holmes embodied. During the first commercial break, the phone rang.

For an instant, no one moved, the phone rang again and the magic of Saturday morning was broken. It was the phone which almost always broke the spell, for it always infallibly awakened their father -- that was left over from the days working for Carmody at United Technologies when Dr. Power might be called at any hour, day or night to help solve some problem or other at the lab.

"Jack," Dr. Power's voice drifted out of the bedroom, "It's for you. It's Franklin."

"Franklin?" Jack asked in surprised delight, "Aw right!" and headed for the telephone on the kitchen wall. "Yo! Franklin, what's up, bro?"

While Jack was on the phone, Alex and Julie glanced at each other, rather wistfully - each silently realizing that for them, the Saturday Rituals were almost over. Cartoons were less and less important and more often than not the cartoons, with notable exceptions were rather silly. Each realized vaguely that for them, childhood was fast coming to an end ... to be replaced by the vast, scary, unknown territories called adolescence. By mutual silent agreement, both older Power kids left Katie to watch TV by herself and began to clean up the breakfast mess.

"Hey, guys!" Jack said excitedly, "Frank's gonna be coming to New York today!"

"Great!" Alex said. "We can have some fun today."

Mom came out of the bathroom in her bathrobe, "Hi kids. Up early, eh? What are you going to be doing today?"

"Franklin's coming!" Katie shouted excitedly.

"Yeah," Jack chimed in, "His mom is coming to New York to do some more packing at _Four Freedom's Plaza_, and so Franklin can play with us today. I want to go over to the Bradford School, so we can play with Kristoff too!"

"Well, I suppose that's okay," Margaret said. "You'll be playing in the park?"

"Could we maybe go to a movie this afternoon?" Julie asked.

"You're going to stick together? Not go off on your own?" Mom was looking directly at Alex as she said this.

"Don't worry, Mom," Alex said. "I'll keep them all in line, and make sure that everyone stays together."

"All right," Margaret said slowly. She still didn't like the idea of her babies being alone and unsupervised in a metroplex the size of Greater New York ... but both Alex and Julie were old enough to be on their own for limited periods of time, and Alex had always been ultra responsible when left in charge of his younger brother and sisters.

Margaret sighed, "All right, I guess it's okay ... oh my," she said in mock surprise, "A semi-clean kitchen. Have you kids had breakfast already?"

"Yes, Mom," Jack said. "Uh ... Mom ...?"

"Its Saturday, Mom," Julie finished.

"Yes, so?" Margaret teased the children.

"Aww, Mom, C'mon. It's allowance day!" Katie said shrilly.

"Oh, of course," Margaret grinned, "But I don't think that Accounting has sent the checks down yet...?"

"_Mah-Muh_!"

"All right, all right," Margaret laughed reaching for her purse.

"But I'm afraid I don't have the change. Alex I'm going to give you the $26.00 and you'll have to find someplace to break the $20.00 bill."

"Okay, Mom, don't worry, I'll take care of it," Alex said confidently. "I'll take the cellphone, and if anything happens I can call you," Alex took one the family's cellphones from the charger on the kitchen pass-thru. "Or if you need anything you can call me."

"We should get started for the AmTrak station," said Jack, looking at the kitchen clock. "There's only about twenty minutes until Frank and his Mom get here."

"Before you go, I want you all back here for lunch, so that you can tell me what movie you're planning to see - okay?"

"No problem," said Katie holding up her thumb and index finger in an "oh" for okay.

"And I guess it will be SIX for lunch? You guys, Franklin and Kristoff?"

"Errr ... maybe seven." Alex said. "I'm going to ask Allison to hang out with us."

"Okay," Mom laughed. "The more the merrier!"

This time it was Jack that held up the A-Okay symbol, he already had the other hand on the apartment door's handle.

Just outside of their apartment building, Alex called Allison. "Allison? Oh, hello Mrs. McCourt, this is Alex Power, can I please speak to Allison?"

Katie crossed her eyes, stuck out her tongue and used her right index finger to push up and flatten her nose. Alex ignored her.

"Hello," Allison's sweet voice filled Alex's ear.

"Hi Allison," Alex felt his heart rate quicken as he heard Allison's voice. "If you want ... I mean my brother and sisters and I are going to hang out in the Park, spend our allowances on candy and ice cream, go to a movie ... anyway I wanted to know if you wanna hang out with us."

"Sounds fun," Allison said. "When?"

"Right now. You remember Franklin Richards ... you met him when we fought Dr. Doom and I told you about _Power Pack_."

"Yeah, a cute little blond kid about five?"

"Yeah, that him. He's coming to New York to play with Jack, we're going over to the 74th Street Amtrak station to meet his train."

"Okay," Allison said. "I'll meet you there. I'll be about fifteen minutes."

"Great!" Alex said. "See you then." Alex closed the cellphone and slipped it into his windbreaker.

* * *

Sue Richards, a charter member of the premier superhero team known as the Fantastic Four, and her five-year-old son, Franklin were on the lower deck of car 1407 on the Boston to Washington DC local Amtrak service. Franklin was squirming in his seat, excited about coming to New York and playing with his best friend, Jack Power. Sue had her laptop on the pull down table in front of her, connected to the InterNet trying to catch up on the mountain of administrative chores keeping Fantastic Four Plaza in the black. Sure she and Reed had "officially" retired from the Fantastic Four, leaving the leadership of the team in the capable hands of Ben The Thing Grimm. But Ben was a no nonsense action guy, not a businessman. 

He lived by the motto: "_It's Clobbering Time_" -- which was exactly what the Fantastic Four needed when fighting for Truth, Justice and the American Way against foes like Dr. Doom, Galactus or the Ga'ha'ould. But he was helpless as a baby with the facts and figures of the business end of things that allowed the Fantastic Four to operate with a budget larger than most foreign nations. That was where Sue's business sense came in. Retired she might be, but she still had to handle the books for the Fantastic Four as the superhero team's CFO. She had also come to Manhattan to oversee the packing and trans shipment of several of Reed's pet projects he had left when they moved to Connecticut. But now that his new company, Future Dynamics, had become a reality in the quiet backwoods of rural Connecticut, he wanted several of the alien technological trophies he had collected over the past decade.

The passenger ramp to the AMTRAK station on 74th Street and Central Park West was an arch of concrete, permaplast and steel that rose first in a graceful spiral on the west side of Central Park West, and then ten meters above the ground stretched across the seventy meter expanse of Central Park West, the sidewalks and park wall to the complex of buildings that was the AmTrak station proper. The 74th Street Station was one of a half dozen scattered over Manhattan Island, and like the others, it shared these facilities with MTD busses, other maglev rail transports and through an escalator, even to the subways some 30 meters below street level. The four Power children ran up the stairs two at a time, even Katie, who was extraordinarily proud of the achievement.

The Boston/Washington AMTRAK Local service train decelerated into the 74th street station and glided to an easy, computer controlled stop only inches away from the concrete and steel passenger ramp. This AMTRAK maglev train glinted gold and white in the morning sun, its length celebrating the 225th year of the United States Postal Service. On the passenger ramp, four anxious children awaited the arrival of their friend, Franklin Richards, whom they had not seen in nearly three weeks.

"There they ARE!" Jack shouted and began to muscle his way through the crowd, with the other Power children following in his wake. It was slow going because of an unusually heavy crowd of commuters for a Saturday, but slowly they began to make headway toward Franklin and his mother, Sue Richards, one of the founding members of the Fantastic Four. A crowd of interested passerby's and celebrity hunters had already started to form around the _Invisible Woman_.

"Franklin!" Jack shouted above the general commotion of the crowd. "Yo! Frank!"

"Jack!" The five-year-old squealed with unrepressed joy, and immediately used a judo move that Johnny Storm the Human Torch had taught him to break his mother's hold on his skinny wrist.

"No, Franklin ... wait ..." Sue started to say, just as a tabloid photographer took a flash picture, using a neon-laser flash at point blank range.

"Wha -?" The Invisible Woman reacted instinctively and her personal forcefield came into existence, roughly jostling some of the more rude spectators who happened to be close enough to be within the range of the forcefield.

"Look," Someone in the crowd shouted, "She's gone atomic."

"How can you tell?"

"By the pale yellow glow?"

"...That's her Force Shield!"

"...Must be villains near."

"...Or monsters!"

"I don't like the looks of this ..."

"Yeah, I think you're right, Morton..."

Meanwhile, Franklin, who at approximately waist high to the adults around him was bobbing and weaving through the crowd towards Jack and Katie who were also small enough to dart between the adults in a zigzag course that their older brother and sister had absolutely no hope of following.

Suddenly an enormous orange scaled hand reached out of the crowd and expertly snatched Franklin up by the back of his jacket and shirt, lifting him not quite off his feet, but denying him the traction he needed for forward mobility.

"S'OKAY, SUZY!" A giant basso profundo voice echoed across the AMTRAK concourse. "I gott'em."

"Wow!"

"LOOK!"

"The Thing!"

"Can I have your autograph, Mr. Grimm?"

Jack and Katie came to a halt in front of the 7'8" mutant known to the world as the Thing.

"Well, well! It's little Jack Power, and that lil cutie-pie, Katie."

"Let go, Unca Benjamin -" Franklin said, distinctly upset about being held immobile by the Thing.

"Oh -- uh, yeah, sorry." Franklin was released from the powerful grip, just as Sue Richards made her way through the crowd from one side and Alex and Julie arrived from the other.

"Franklin Benjamin Richards!"

_Uh-oh_ Franklin thought, _My whole name ... I'm in trouble!_

" ... what do you mean by running off into this crowd like that?"

"I'm sorry, Mommy, it's just that it's been so long since I've seen Jack..."

"It was my fault too, Mrs. Richards," Jack said, shuffling his feet. "It's been a long time since Frank and I got to play."

"Aww, c'mon, Suzie," Ben said. "The kid's just excited. And after all, nothing happened."

"Yes Ben, nothing happened ... THIS time! But he's only five..."

Sue Richards took a deep breath and sighed. "All right Franklin but this is not over yet. We are going to have a long talk about this on the train going home tonight. Understood?"

"Yes, Mommy."

"Well, you about ready to go, Suzie?" Ben asked. "I've got the limo over in the parking lot on 75th Street."

"All right, Ben," Sue said. "Just a minute, I want to talk to Alex."

"Yes, Mrs. Richards?" Alex said.

"What are you guys gonna do today?"

"Well, we were just going to hang around some ..."

"...And go to the movies this afternoon," added Katie.

Sue paused to consider and made a decision. "Okay. Now Alex, we have to catch the Boston Local at 7:00 p.m. back to Stamford."

"That's okay, Mrs. Richards," Alex said. "We have to be home before dark, so we'll be back at our apartment before six o'clock."

Sue looked relieved. "That's good. Here's $20.00 for Franklin's share of expenses today ... is that going to be enough?"

"Plenty," Alex assured her.

"All right, and then I'll come pick up Franklin at your apartment at 6:30 this evening," Sue said reaching out for her son. "C'mere, kiddo and give me a kiss."

The five-year-old put his arms around his mother's neck and kissed her.

"Okay, Ben, let's get airborne, I gotta get about a ton of stuff sorted and ready for the Truck from Future Dynamics to pick up on Monday." Sue Richards let a huge grin consume her face and added: "Plus I've gotta balance your checkbook. I swear Ben, you must have been asleep in class when they were trying to teach you ..."

"All the time, Suzie," Ben said, chuckling. He stepped aside and doffed the huge slouch hat that he invariably wore in public.

"Bye, Mom!" Franklyn hollered.

"Bye, Mrs. Richards," the Power children chorused.

"C'mon," Jack said tugging at his older brother, "We've gotta find some place to cash that $20.00 bill. I want my $5.00."

"Yeah," Katie echoed, "And I want MY allowance AND a candy bar!"

The five kids walked through the park toward the eastern edge and the gate at 72nd Street and Fifth Avenue. As they approached the park exit, Alex spotted Allison just entering the park.

"Hey Allison," Alex shouted, waving his hand over his head. "Over here!"

Allison spotted Alex and immediately ran over. "Alex! I'm really glad you invited me to spend the day with you." She threw her arms around Alex and kissed him on the check. The result from the younger kids was predictable, Jack, Katie and Franklin all fell on the ground laughing, while Julie just stood by smiling.

Alex led Allison over to a low retaining wall and the two sat down.

"Allison," Alex began, "what would you think about formally joining _Power Pack_?"

Allison was silent for a minute. "I'm flattered Alex. I'd love to join _Power Pack_. But you guys all have super powers ... I don't."

Julie and the others had crowded around Alex and Allison.

"But Allison," Julie said. "You're the best gymnast in class. And _Black Widow_ doesn't have a super powers, she's just really athletic ... like you."

"And _Danger Woman_ doesn't have any super powers ..." Katie started.

"That's because _she's_ not real," Jack said.

Katie stuck her tongue out at Jack. "She is too real."

"C'mon, Allison," Julie said. "You're the only one who can keep _Mr. Smart Alex_ in line. We need you."

"Mr.. _Smart Alex_?" Allison laughed.

"YOU probably haven't heard our brother lecture on Science," Julie laughed. "He gets it from our Dad."

"Do ... do you guys really think I can help?" Allison asked.

"Of course!" Julie said. "We only use our Kymellian Powers in an emergency. Most of the stuff we do is just be in the right place at the right time, you know like when we were out helping the fire department during that huge storm -- when you helped us, you didn't need super powers then."

Allison brightened up immediately. "Then I really could do this -- right?"

Alex put an arm around Allison's shoulders and the twelve-year-old girl leaned against him. "Of course you can. And most of the time we have a really good time."

"And we get to sneak out at night sometimes," Katie said.

A mischievous grin spread over Allison's face. "That _does_ sound like fun. And it would not be hard. My mom and dad have to get up early, so they go to bed early. By 11pm they're asleep, and then it would take a fire to wake them. As long as I made sure I was home by 5am I could do that too."

Franklin came over to Allison and shyly took her hand. "Are you going to join _Power Pack_?"

"Looks like it," Allison laughed.

"Hooray for the sixth member of _Power Pack_," Jack and Franklin cheered together. "Hey!" Jack said, "If get one more kid to join, we can be the Magnificent Seven!"

Alex was very glad to see his little brother accept Allison, it would be hell if Jack had still been jealous. Alex made a mental note to spend more time with Jack doing "guy-things" that Jack liked.

Katie suddenly exclaimed: "Hey! I forgot. I've got a surprise for you guys."

"_What kind of surprise_?" asked Julie, a vague feeling of apprehension coming over her.

"Well, you know how Alex is always saying that we should practice with our powers and get really good at using them?"

"Yeah?"

"And how Jack has been able to develop a couple of new ways to use the gravity power?"

"Yeah," Jack bragged, "Like my patented super-gee megapunch."

"Uh-huh," Katie agreed. "Well, I've got a new way to use MY power."

"_What do you mean_?" asked Alex and Julie nearly in unison with more than a little foreboding. Katie's innovations of things almost always turned into disasters.

"Watch!" Katie said before anyone could veto her demonstration. The youngest Power child took two steps, and then gave a little hop and seemingly instantly was across the thirty meters separating the children from the gate at 72nd Street. The faint buzz of ionized air molecules and the ephemeral rainbow effect that marked Katie's use of the Kymellian flight power was still there to the practiced eyes and ears of _Power Pack_. The difference was Katie had not left the ground.

Instantly, the five remaining members of Power Pack ran after Katie, rejoining her seconds later at the gate.

"Aww right, _KATIE_!" Jack roared with unabashed admiration for his little sister's accomplishment. "Just like the _Flash_ in the comics!"

"That's where I got the idea from," Katie said grinning at them.

"Absolutely beautiful," Julie said.

"Katie, that was fantastic," Allison said hugging the almost six-year-old.

"Very interesting," said Alex, clasping his hands behind his back, Vulcan-like. Franklin was just speechless, hero-worship obvious in his eyes.

"See, I told you I'd found a new way to use my power!" Katie crowed.

"Yeah," Alex said.

"But not so loud!" Julie said softly, "We haven't even got up the courage to tell Mom and Dad yet ... you wanna broadcast the fact that we're superheroes to the world?"

"Uh, no. Not really ..." Katie said softly.

"Are you gonna give people rides?" Asked Franklin hopefully, grabbing hold of Katie's hand.

"Oooff!" Katie grunted giving a tug on Franklin's hand. "I guess not unless Jack degravitates you. I'm not strong enough to lift you, and you cause too much drag when you're just standing here like this. C'mon, Jack. Degravitate Franklin so that I can see if I can pull him and you allong.

"Okay," Jack began eagerly.

"Hold it, you guys," Alex said. "This is a controlled area ... Central Park; a lot of weird things happen here, that's true, but not _THAT_ weird. No public demonstrations of our powers. '_Nuff said_."

"Alex's right," Franklin said. "We'de better find some place that's more private."

"Yeah, okay," Jack said, a little disappointed, "but I first want to get that $20.00 bill broken, so that we can get our allowance!"

"Yeah," Katie said, "Look, there's a 31 Flavors. I want ice cream.

Alex looked at Allison and shrugged, a _what're'ya gonna do_? look on his face. Allison smiled and put her hand in Alex's and they followed the four younger kids running toward the ice cream shoppe.

**To Be Continued**


	3. SHIELD and Juggernaut

* * *

CHAPTER THREE  
The Juggernaut and S. H. I. E. L. D.

* * *

When they came out of the ice cream shop, the weather had turned gray and semi fogy. In the period of time that they had taken to obtain their ice cream, the bright early spring day had reverted beck to a cool, dark late winter day. The breeze had turned cool with a hint of much colder to come. After several adjustments for who bought what, Alex was finally able to get the allowances distributed to everyone's satisfaction ... except for Franklin, who on seeing that Katie got to carry her own money, insisted that he should be able to do the same. Alex finally compromised by giving him $3.00 the same as Katie so that he would have his own money also . 

"We should go over to the Bradford School and see if Kristov can come out to play," Jack said.

"Good idea!" Franklin said enthusiastically, remembering how last month his less than enthusiastic acceptance of Kristoff who Franklin had been told was only a Dr. Doom clone, had caused a major rift between himself and Jack, one that had literally terrified the five-year-old and one that Franklin had worked long and hard to repair.

"Look," Julie said, pointing to the south, "What's that?"

Fifth Avenue at about 68th Street was literally 'boiling' with flashing lights and sirens. From behind them, down Fifth Avenue roared a convoy of NYPD vehicles including a SWAT van. The NYPD cars fanned out and completely blocked off Fifth Avenue at about 70th Street. The doors of the SWAT van sprang open and six heavily armed police troopers jumped out and immediately took up defensive positions, behind cars, in building doorways, and in alleyways. Overhead, a NYPD helicopter orbited the scene.

"Look!" Jack gasped breathlessly. "_WHAT_ is _THAT_?"

There was a _C R A C K_ sound from the barrier wall running along side Central Park's eastern perimeter, and then several other loud cracking noises and a loud ripping sound. Seconds later a dull _**KAH-BOOM**_! rolled over the park as a section of the eight foot high retaining wall gave way and collapsed inward into the park. Standing in the middle of the dust and vapor was a somewhat indistinct but huge form. The airborne debris thinned out some as it settled to the ground and the wisps of the slowly thickening fog seemed to pull back for an instant, and the figure standing at the center of a ring of 40 or 50 police officers was clearly visible for the first time.

Franklin put his hand into Allison's, and Julie clamped down protectively on the other hand at the same time she reached for Katie's hand.

"Alex," Franklin said softly, "That -- that's --"

"I know," Alex said quietly. "I recognize him from the '_Dangerous Mutants_' section of our current events class: The Juggernaut."

Suddenly there was a sound like fireworks, and the brown armored figure swung his arms around, as though swatting flies. Suddenly Alex realized that the police had opened fire on the Juggernaut, who seemed totally unaffected by the whizzing 7.62mm steel jacketed armor piercing ammunition flying through the air.

"C'mon," Jack said. "We've gotta help the police! _Power Pack Attack!_"

"Are you crazy?" Alex asked. "That's the Juggernaut ... a major league villain. The X-Men AND the Avengers working together couldn't take him."

"All the more reason we've gotta help the police!" Jack said. "_Costume on_!"

"Allison, will you help watch Katie and Franklin? Costume on," Alex whispered. "I hope we're up to this."

"Of course Alex."

The indistinct flickering of other worldly energies around skinny kid bodies was not noticed by the excited crown of on lookers who were quickly forming to watch the show. Allison firmly took both Katie and Franklin's hands while Julie used her power to blend with the gathering fog.

"Allison," Katie squirmed in the older girl's grip. "We should help."

"Okay," Allison said surprising Katie. "How?"

That stopped Katie dead in her tracks. She didn't actually have a plan.

A swoosh and a terrific down draft heralded the arrival of a large troop carrier VTOL skimmer with the S. H. I. E. L. D. logo prominently displayed on its side. The skimmer hovered for an instant and then settled to a landing in the park to the south of Juggernaut. A ramp dropped and a dozen fully armored S. H. I. E. L. D. mandroids clutching large caliber plasma blasters and military grade laser rifles swarmed out and quickly took up skirmish positions. Another skimmer arrived, this one with sinister looking gun turrets and other weapons mounts. The second VTOL made a single low level pass and then quickly climbed to about five hundred feet and began a wide orbit of the park.

Someone on the ground yelled "_OPEN FIRE_" and the foggy air was rent with the hissing of hyperpower lasers, the loud staccato reports of assault rifles and the dull "_FWAAP_!" of the S. H. I. E. L. D. plasma blasters. In seconds a square block behind Juggernaut was enveloped in fire ignited by plasma ricochets and laser strikes on inflammable materials. Civilians screamed and ran for their lives. The fire department struggled to contain and put out the fires.

"Cease Fire!" Roared someone, and slowly the smoke and fog cleared away to reveal Juggernaut still standing there, so far totally impervious to all the firepower arrayed against him.

The S. H. I. E. L. D. skimmer cut loose with a sustained burst from its miniguns, stitching a line of dirt fountains all around the Juggernaut as an electronically amplified voice demanded: "_SURRENDER IN THE NAME OF THE UNITED NATION OF PLANET EARTH!_"

The bullet shaped helmet jerked around toward the skimmer to snarl an obscenity at the S. H. I. E. L. D. aircraft and its pilot. Juggernaut's hand closed around a chuck of concrete from the Park perimeter wall and with an audible grunt he heaved the 60 kg chunk of concrete at the skimmer.

The skimmer pilot slammed over the cyclic and stomped hard on the right foot pedal while jerking up sharply on the collective, twisting the throttle to maximum to feed the ultimate amount of power to the GE nulear-electric thrusters that supplied both lift and thrust to the skimmer. The result was that the 76 ton aircraft swerved out of the way of the chunk of concrete ... which continued in an upward trajectory until it ran out of impulse, about 50,000 feet over southern New Jersey. This same concrete missile became a "meteorite" which smashed into the garden of Mrs. I. Filchem, a retired truant officer, scaring that worthy almost literally to death.

"Come on, Alex," Julie said anxiously. "So far no one has been hurt, but if this keeps up," Julie waved her arm toward the battle which was now resumed at full force, "We'll be too late and people will start getting killed." The air was thick with the smell of ozone from laser fire and of cordite from automatic weapons fire. Over and above it all was the bellowing of Juggernaut.

"I think I party agree with Julie," Allison said. "People are going to start getting hurt. We should start trying to get people out of the area."

"Wait, I've got a plan," Jack said suddenly. "Julie, you start reinforcing this fog, and Alex, you grab Franklin. Katie," Jack said as he adjusted his grip on Alex's wrist and degravitated him and Franklin, "Fly as fast as you can right toward the Juggernaut. I'll grab him and degravitate him. Then we'll get him out of here - we'll fly him over to Roosevelt Island in the East River; then S. H. I. E. L. D. and the cops will have nothing left to shoot at -- Juggernaut can rant and rave and punch out junk cars instead."

"I like it," Julie said. "It'll defuse the situation fast."

Alex and Allison both nodded, it did seem to be the best way to use their powers to help. Julie intensified the local fog and the four remaining kids linked hands as Jack made them weightless.

"Okay," Katie said and in an instant was flying at full speed toward the battle scene, dragging a degravitized Alex, Allison, Jack and Franklin behind her through a thickening fog; half normal fog and half Julie's Kymellian power. By using the same density waves that she used to propel herself, Julie was able to concentrate not only her own 'density' fog, but was also able to intensify and direct the normal fog from the East River, which was growing in thickness all the time. The result was that by the time Katie reached Juggernaut, no one not equipped with IR sensors could see more than six to eight inches in any direction in the pearl-gray fog.

So fast was Katie's 'abduction' of the Juggernaut, that S. H. I. E. L. D.'s mandroids missed Power Pack's participation in the deed completely. The way it looked to their IR augmented cyber-eyes was one minute the target was there, and the next it was gone - there simply was no Juggernaut. The instant that Jack's fingers closed around a bit of torn leather and plastic from Juggernaut's armor, all 230 kilograms of his mass became weightless; but not however, inertialess, it still took a lot of effort to get all that mass moving. Katie orbited the Juggernaut several times to build up speed, and then dove in on him. Jack reached out and degravitated him, and Katie swung around, jerking the 7'4" giant off balance. With him stumbling backwards and finding no traction because of his weightless condition, Juggernaut's own mass combined with the momentum of Power Pack to get him moving.

"What the hell --?" Cain swore, but the words froze in his throat as he looked down at the grinning face of a small, blue-eyed boy clutching his breastplate where it had been shredded by a S. H. I. E. L. D. plasma bolt.

"Relax, Big Guy. You're coming with us!"

Cain Marko realized that his feet were no longer touching the ground, so they were flying - no way to tell in this fog how high they were, and so Cain stopped struggling.

"You're gonna regret this, punk!" Cain snarled.

"Probably," Jack said. "I was all for letting S. H. I. E. L. D. finish you off."

"Shit!" Cain swore, "Those bastards have been trying to corner me and Black Tom for years..."

"Ummmm, naughty, naughty!" came another childish voice from beyond the limits of Cain's vision. "You used BAD words!" Then there was a high pitched treble giggle, that was quickly joined by another. The giggles hinted at small children who had caught an adult in a faux pas.

"Quiet you two." An older voice said sternly. Older, but still prepubescent, Cain judged. _WHAT WAS HAPPENING_?

"We're over the East River," Alex called to Katie, "Set down on Roosevelt Island, it's just weeds and junkyards..."

* * *

Meanwhile aboard the S. H. I. E. L. D. skimmers, a bright red indicator lamp went on the Comm/EW/ELINT operator's panel, and a message began to snake across the CRT of the aircraft's "secure" communications receiver. The EWO poked the pilot in the ribs and shouted over the roar of the engines: 

"Priority message from S. H. I. E. L. D. HQ," and pointed to the screen.

**TO ALL SHIELD FIELD FORCES:  
OPERATION "SNAKE CHARMER" IS GO. ALL OUT WORLDWIDE ASSAULT ON HYDRA  
AND COBRA WILL COMMENCE AT 0935 HRS EST. ALL CURRENT SHIELD FIELD OPS ARE  
SUSPENDED. ALL SHIELD PERSONNEL REPORT TO YOUR STAGING AREAS NLT 0915 HRS EST.  
SIGNED:  
NICK FURY, COLONEL, UNAF  
COMMANDING -- SHIELD**

"All right!" The pilot said with unrestrained enthusiasm, "The BIG time!" He glanced at the small chronometer above the instrument dash. 09:01:54 it read

"Strike Com One to Strike Com Two," The EWO said, pressing his throat mic against his larynx.

"Strike Two, go."

"Did you copy the recall?"

"Ah-firmative. You untangle from the NYPD, and we'll see you back at the barn."

"Roger that. Strike Com One out."

The whine of the skimmer's nuclear-electric impellers echoed off the skyscrapers of downtown Manhattan as the skimmer began its preparations for flight. The squad of mandroids were already climbing into the skimmer's cargo bay.

"All aboard, Sarge?" The pilot asked.

"Yes, Sir!" The S. H. I. E. L. D. sergeant said and held up his thumb. "Let's kick some _COBRA_ butt!"

The pilot turned back to the instruments as the computer controlled auto sequencer finished its check list, and the Christmas Tree on the midpanel finished running all of its myriad indicator lights from amber to green. Newspapers, dead leaves and other trash and detritus swirled in the backblast of the S. H. I. E. L. D. skimmer's take off.

* * *

The fog was thinning as _Power Pack_ landed Juggernaut in the center of what appeared to be a large field, overgrown with underbrush and weeds, several dozen rusted out and obviously abandoned truck chassis from the last century's failed experiment with the internal combustion engine were scattered around amid the wreckage of more modern electric cars, mounds of scrap metal and decaying trash. As Juggernaut's feet touched the ground he gave a slight, but audible sigh of relief, one thing Cain did not enjoy was not being in control of his surroundings or condition. Cain removed his helmet to better survey the situation. 

The Juggernaut was _PISSED OFF_!

"Awright," Cain Marco, the Juggernaut, growled, "So you've got me -- now what do you kids think you're gonna DO with me? Why'd you bring me out here?"

Juggernaut's eyes were filled with rage and frustration. Hoping to calm the volatile giant down, Alex stepped forward.

"We had to get you out of there. People might have gotten hurt," the twelve-year-old explained in a reasonable voice.

"Yeah -- a LOT of people _WERE_ gonna get hurt -- _SO WHAT_?" Juggernaut said belligerently. He waived a huge fist in Alex's direction, but the boy stood his ground. "Maybe I should start with a bunch of too ornery kids!"

"Please, Mr. Marco," Julie said as she suddenly materialized out of a cloud and stepped forward toward the 7'4" giant, "Can't you just tell us_ WHY_ you're so angry. Maybe we can help."

If Juggernaut was startled by Julie's sudden materialization he did not let it show in his actions or his words. He merely looked at the two children and muttered: "Nahh, you can't help. What's the use?"

"You were obviously upset about _SOMETHING_ back in the park," Allison said, encouraged by the fact that he sounded a little less furious now. "Something must have happened to make you so angry."

"Yeah," Katie chimed in, stepping out from behind Alex and Allison to get a better look at Juggernaut. "You broke the wall and said some bad words!" She reminded him, giggling. Cain recognized the same giggle he'd heard before.

"Katie!" Franklin whispered, still mostly concealed by Alex's larger frame. Franklin nudged Katie, "Quit laughing at him. You hate being laughed at when YOU break stuff. You're gonna make him mad again!"

Katie gave Franklin a light shove. "I'm not making him mad," she retorted triumphantly. The children looked up a Juggernaut and saw that Katie was right. His eyes were now filled with confusion as Juggernaut stared with disbelief at the six children who stood in front of him. The oldest couldn't be more than eleven or twelve, and ALL but one of them were warring costumes.

"All right," Cain said slowly, spreading his huge hands in front of him. "Let's call a truce for now. Who are you kids? You can't be any of my stepbrother's students ... you're all too young. Who ..._WHAT_ are you?"

"We're _POWER PACK_!" Katie and Franklin shouted together enthusiastically; Katie gave a quick half leap and flew a small radius orbit around the clearing in the midst of the junk yard.

"Actually," Alex began, "We're NOT mutants. We were given our powers, kinda like you were --"

"By a demon from beyond space and time?" Cain asked, suddenly interested.

"No," Julie said, "We were at our house in Virginia Beach last summer when a UFO landed ..."

"Yeah, Friday -" Katie supplied helpfully.

"...And onboard was an alien from a race called the Kymellians ..."

"Whitey. He's good. But there were some Snarks also, they were bad..." Katie interjected.

"We were - well - transformed -" Alex started again, "By Whitey so that we could save our parents and the whole world from the Snarks. Each of us has a different power. For example, I'm _Destroyer_," Alex said bending over and picking up a piece of scrap metal. It slowly began to glow warm yellow and abruptly vanished in a small pop of light. "I can disintegrate anything."

"I'm _Molecula_," Julie said. "I can alter the density of my body to either become a cloud," the air was suddenly again filled with a deep fog, "Or," she said as she rematerialized, "I can shrink down to toy size ..." a six-inch tall Julie piped up at them before returning to her normal "powers-neutral" condition.

Cain turned toward Jack, "You I know do some kind of levitation trick..."

"Not exactly," Jack bragged. "The Great _Counterweight_ can alter the gravitational curve of space/time. I can either make things weightless, or I can make them weigh thousands of tons," Jack said grinning. "Mostly, I just make things light enough so that _Starstreak_ can carry 'em."

"I'm _Starstreak_!" Katie shouted, and as an added demonstration of her power, ran around Juggernaut, using her ground based newly developed ability, and then jumped into the air and flew several wide orbits of the clearing before alighting lightly on her feet several meters away.

"I'm _Tattletale_," Franklin said shyly. "with my dream-self I can be ..." Franklin suddenly collapsed into Jack's waiting arms, apparently asleep. "...two places at once." came a voice from behind Cain.

Cain whirled around and there, about a dozen feet away was a ghostly, semitransparent copy of the 5-year-old boy. "It's like the _Twilight Zone_," Cain muttered. "What about you?" Marco said looking at Allison. "You don't have a costume I see."

"My name is _Eclipse_. I'm the team gymnast," Allison said.

"Eclipse," Jack said softly. "Cool name."

"We were on our way to see if a friend of ours could come out and play in the park," Jack said, "when we saw you..."

"When S. H. I. E. L. D. showed up," Alex said, "We figured we'd better get you out of there."

"HAW!" Juggernaut laughed. "Those S. H. I. E. L. D. jokers couldn't have even put a scratch on me!"

"Yes," Julie said, "That's probably true. But what about the other people and the kids in the park?"

"...And the cats and dogs," Katie added helpfully.

Marko stood mute, suddenly very ashamed of himself.

"Why were you so angry?" Allison asked again.

"It doesn't matter ..." Marko sighed slowly.

"Sure it does," Alex told him. "Maybe we can help."

"Nobody can help me." Juggernaut sounded very dejected.

"Maybe we can." Alex repeated sympathetically. "Tell us what happened."

Katie felt sorry for Juggernaut. It wasn't often that she heard such bitterness and defeat in anyone's voice. She touched one of his massive arms. "Please tell us," she coaxed.

"Well, uh ... I was trying to do something I'm not too good at ... "

"Wow!" Jack said, "THAT seems hard to imagine, something that YOU'RE not good at?"

Cain glowered at the boy thinking that perhaps he was being sarcastic. But Jack seemed genuinely incredulous.

"I can't read - okay?" Cain confessed slowly, "And I need to find out all about the Jewel of Cytorrak."

"Yeah," Jack said slowly, "I remember that. It was just after we came to New York, and during a fight you were having with the X-Men, right?"

"Yeah -"

"And then you threw the Jewel into orbit! I remember the TV news about that - it was GREAT!"

"Not so great," Cain sighed. "I need to get it back."

"What? The Jewel?" Jack asked.

"Yeah, it's important."

"Why?" asked Katie.

"It all started when I went to Tom's birthday party."

"A birthday party?" Katie asked brightly, "I'm gonna be six on Tuesday. Parties are fun - but I already had mine - combined with Franklin's birthday last month..."

"Knock it off, Katie. I wanna hear the rest of the story," Jack said.

"This party _was_ fun when it started," Cain began, "and I thought I'd found the perfect gift for Tom - the Jewel - Tom's very fond of gems, and this one is a beauty, this big," he held up his huge fist, "A ruby."

"Wow!" the five members of Power Pack were suitably impressed.

"But things just never seem to work out for me ..."

"Why? What happened?" Julie asked.

"When Tom touched the Jewel, he gained half the power of Juggernaut, and I lost half of it. And when I got it back, it scared me to think that the power would be divided up between as many as touched the Jewel ... so I decided to not take that chance again. I threw the Jewel into orbit. But ever since then, I've been getting weaker..."

"_YOU_?" Power Pack exclaimed together.

"Oh, its not bad enough for anyone but me to notice; but its defiantly true, and I think it has something to do with the Jewel. So I went to the library trying to find information ...except those intellectual four-eyes laughed at me ... _ME! THE JUGGERNAUT_! They _LAUGHED_ at me!" Cain paused a minute to regain his composure and then said in a very low and sinister voice, "_But they will be sorry that they laughed at the Juggernaut_."

Slowly a plan began to form in Allison's mind. "I think we _CAN_ help," Allison said.

"Huh?" Jack asked, "But how? We don't know anything about demons or jewels for that matter."

"Maybe not," Allison said. "But we _CAN_ go to the library and try to find out."

"That's true," Alex said. "Allison is about the best researcher in IS34. If anyone can track down information on this Jewel of Cytorrak, I'll bet it's Allison."

"You'd really do that for me?" Marko asked.

"We can sure try ... at least go to the library."

"But I tried the library and they ..."

"Well, don't worry, I still have a few tricks left," Allison said and grabbed Alex's costume sleeve and pulled him aside. "I'll take Julie, Katie and Franklin with me and we'll go over to the main library on 42nd Street and see what I can find out. It's just about 10:00 so Katie and Franklin can go to the Children's Room for story hour while Julie and I go upstairs to the adult library."

"Okay," Alex agreed. "It sounds like a good plan to me. Just don't let Katie start showing off her powers."

"I'll take care of that, I'm the camouflage expert." Julie laughed. "Don't worry, no one will even catch a glimpse of us. This fog is absolutely perfect."

"Hey, wait a minute," Katie said. "If Jack is going to stay here, how will we get to the Library? I can't fly all of us without Jack to make us weightless."

"_Hee, Hee, Hee,_" Allison giggled. "You're too hung up on your powers."

"We'll take MetroLink," Julie said.

"There is a station about a five minute walk from here," Allison said. "Though why they have a station here in junkyard central I'll never know."

As Julie, Katie, Allison and Franklin departed for the main library, Jack and Cain had begun a conversation -- after all, it was not everyday that Cain Marko ran across a nine-year-old boy who could do the things he'd seem Jack do.

"Yeah," Jack bragged, "I can degavitate _ANYTHING_."

"That's quite a boast from someone who is under five feet tall," Cain chuckled and proceeded to stride over to a rusted truck chassis, complete with transmission and engine block.

"Can you do _THIS_?" Cain challenged, hefting the truck over his head and tossing it like a toy to land some twenty meters away in a deafening clang and shriek of over stressed metals.

"Pretty good," Jack admitted. "For an amateur!" The nine-year-old walked over to a twisted pile of scrap metal four meters high and perhaps twice that in length at the base. He paused and looked over his shoulder at Alex and Juggernaut, rubbing his hands together, and then along the thighs of his costume. Jack took a breathe and grabbed a section of I-beam protruding from the pile.

There was no sound as both Alex and Cain held their breathes. Slowly over the next few seconds a strange checkerboard pattern of black and silver rectangles appeared over a portion of the pile of scrap iron. This effect spread to Jack himself until his normal Power Pack costume - silver with black trim - was totally midnight black with an ever shifting pattern of silvery rectangles dancing over its surface. Around Jack's hands, a subtle blue glow which might have been missed by a casual observer appeared and spread to the I-beam. There was a horrendous shriek of over stressed metal as slowly at first, but with noticeable action, the I-beam, and the pile of scrap iron began to move - slowly clawing its way into the sky in direct violation of both Newtonian and Einsteinian gravitational theories. Finally, some three minutes later, Jack was balancing the eighty tons of scrap metal over his head. He then began to ease it slowly back to earth. There was a creak and groan from the pile of scrap as it was again subject to the entire force of earth's gravitational field.

"I'd have called anyone who told me about that a liar," Cain said softly. "If I weren't here to see it with my own eyes..."

"I can't get enough leverage on something that big to throw it," Jack admitted. "But my super-gee mega punch can knock out ANY bad guy."

"HAW! Try it on ME!" Cain laughed.

"Well ... uh ...," Jack shuffled his feet, "I don't know if I should..."

"_HAW_! Don't worry about me, kid. I'm the Juggernaut. I've stood up to S. H. I. E. L. D. plasma cannons at point blank range!"

"He's right, Jack. Juggernaut's invulnerable," Alex whispered. "So go on, really knock him back on his heels. Show him what _Power Pack Attack_ means!"

"Oh-KAY!" Jack said with enthusiasm. He rarely got a chance to use his mega punch except in a scaled down way. This would be his first attempt to bring anything like the full power of his Kymellian ability to influence and focus gravity to bear.

"Ready?" he asked Cain.

Marko planted his feet and grinned down at Jack. "Take your best shot, kid."

Jack took a deep breathe and in a movement almost too fast for the eye to follow reared back and swung at Juggernaut with all of his augmented Kymellian power.

There was a loud, dull _KAH-WHANG_! as Jack's fist landed dead center of Juggernaut's breast plate, just below the solar plexus. Cain momentarily teetered, before stepping backward. A thunderous "_WHOOFF_" came from Juggernaut.

Cain bent over and took several deep breathes.

"I can see why you don't get to use that much!" Cain said. "If you'd hit the Empire State Building like that ... it'd fall down. You pack a punch like a hydrogen bomb."

For the next hour and a half, while waiting for Julie to return from the Library, Alex and Jack listened to Cain tell tales of his life in the CoDominium Marines 15 years ago during the Eugenics Wars just before he had found the Jewel of Cytorrak.

A Whoosh and the visible thickening of the fog -- which had started to lift - heralded the arrival of the rest of Power Pack, back from the Library.

"So how was that for a stealth approach, Julie said, pleased with herself. "We got off MetroLink and snuck up on you boys, you never even knew we were here until I made the fog thicker."

"Who're you trying to kid?" Jack playfully challenged his sister. "You just got here."

"Uh-uh," Katie said smugly, "we sneaked up on you."

"Prove it!" Jack said.

Alex glanced at Juggernaut who had a bemused look on his face. Alex just shrugged and the man mountain smiled. Cain had at first thought of Alex as a _Poindexter_ type who always had all the answers and loved to rub everyone else's nose in it, but he was slowly changing his opinion of Alex Power to the better.

"We heard Cain's story from the Eugenics War," Allison said and quoted back a passage.

Cain Marco had very little practical experience with children. He had always considered them to be whining pests, but these kids seemed different. And the older girl -- Allison he thought -- using his Christian name instead of his mutant codeword Juggernaut softened his view of all these strange youngsters. Maybe they could help.

"Well?" Jack asked. "What did you find out?"

Julie frowned "There's good news and some bad news."

"Uhnn," Cain groaned, "Better let me have the GOOD news first. I need it today."

"Alex was right. Allison is a genius at research," Julie began. "Cytorrak was listed in the encyclopedia all right, he was a Korean demon from prehistoric times - but it was all very general information, and they didn't even mention the Jewel."

"And that's the GOOD news?" Asked Alex.

"No, not all of it," Allison picked up the report, "there was a note scribbled on a slip of paper stuffed into the encyclopedia by whoever was doing research on Cytorrak last. I think it might be a clue as to where we can find out more."

"A clue?" Jack said. "Let me see it, you know I always win at the game of Clue."

"Not THAT kind of clue, you moron," Julie said. "THIS kind of clue," the eleven-year-old said holding up a slip of paper, on it in faded ball-point pen ink was written:

STEPHEN STRANGE RESEARCH CENTER  
FOR THE OCCULT AND MYSTIC ARTS  
176 West 42nd Street  
New York City, 10036  


"That's pretty near the Zone," Alex said, examining the slip of paper. "But it does sound like the kind of place we might find out more."

"We're not suppose to go near the Zone," Katie reminded her older brother.

"Yeah Katie. I know. But this is important," Alex said.

"Okay, so what's the _BAD_ news?" Jack asked.

"I don't know if they'll let kids in," Allison said.

"Don't worry about that" Juggernaut said in an ominous tone of voice. "We'll make them an offer they _CAN'T_ refuse."

**To Be Continued ... **


	4. Strven Strange Research Center

* * *

CHAPTER FOUR  
The Stephen Strange Research Center

* * *

The Stephen Strange Research Center is a deceptivly ordinary looking if somewhat larger than normal Victorian Era mansion on 42nd Street in Manhattan. There is virtually nothing to indicate to the casual observer that this is one of the premier centers of occult research in this sector of the multiverse. Normally the Research Center does not allow anyone under the age of twenty-six to enter the building, much less poke around in its stacks. When Juggernaut and _Power Pack_ show up at their front door, it caused quite a stir among the librarians. 

"May I help you, sir?" an oily voiced librarian inquired as he blocked the corridor leading from the entry alcove to the rest of the facility.

Cain towered over the man in the tan and red robe and cowl of the library staff. "Out of the way, poindexter, I'm in a hurry."

"Well," the librarian said slowly. "We _might_ allow you to enter, Juggernaut -- yes we know all about you, Mr. Marko -- but as for this gaggle of unruly, loud street urchins ... out of the question."

"Hey," Jack whispered to Franklin. "I think that scarey looking guy just insulted us."

"Scarey looking is right. I _knew_ there was a reason mommy and daddy said _stay away from the Zone..._," Katie said. "Its fulla scarey guys!" Franklin nodded in agreement, never taking his eyes off the librarian. Alex and Allison quietly put themselves between the younger children and the librarian and the shadowy hall behind him.

"Look poindexter," Cain said in a tone of voice that said he was used to dealing with people who could not see the _big picture_. "I'm flattered that you know who I am. Because of that you probably have some idea of what I _could_ do if you piss me off. Now recently I have had need of some very specific information, and it has come to my attention that **you **mighthave this information..."

"Be that as it may ... " the librarian tried to interrupt Cain.

It was obvious to the children that Juggernaut was slowly becoming angry. He reached out and snatched the front of the librarian's robe and pulled him off his feet and eye to eye with the Juggernaut. "Okay, look. You have just about worn out my patience. These kids are my _research assistants_. We're coming in, we're going to look for the information I need, and then we'll leave. You and the other eggheads play nice and it'll all be over soon."

Juggernaut let go of the librarian's robe and he collapsed into a heap on the floor.

Another librarian, nearly as big as Juggernaut, replaced his colleague. The new comer's robe was black with silver trim, and covered him head to toe. With the cowl pulled up to hide his head and face there was no way to get a hint of what the librarian looked like. For nearly a minute the two stood toe to toe without speaking, then Juggernaut growled:

"If you want to _have_ a Stephen Strange Research Center when the sun goes down you had better get out of my way ... if not ..."

If the implied threat affected the huge librarian, he did not show it in any outward manner. Just as it appeared that Cain Marko might make good on his threat, another figure emerged from the shadows of the main building. This was a matronly woman with long flowing white hair and dressed in the armor of a Valkyrie. An aura of peace and tranquility surrounded her as she walked up to the librarian and the Juggernaut.

"WOW!" Jack said. "That's _Freya_, Odin's wife. We met her and a lot of the Aesir during INFERNO last month," Jack whispered to Allison. "She's _really_ cool."

"My Lord Scribe," Freya started.

"My Lady?" the librarian bowed his head to her ever so slightly while keeping an eye on Cain.

"I know these mortal children. I know them to be talented and well behaved. I am certain that they can be trusted not to abuse the library if you will let them in. Also I happen to know that Mr. Marko's need is direct and immediate."

The huge librarian bowed his head and stepped aside. "As My Lady wishes," he said in a voice that was not all together human.

Cain marched past him and then faultered as he came abreast of Freya. "I ... er ... umm. Thank you for your help."

"May you find what you search after," Freya said, and as _Power Pack_ came forward, the goddess smiled. "Katie, and Franklin. We have missed you and the rest of _Power Pack_ in Asgaard, and I know one of Volstog's daughters who has especially missed you, Katie."

"I miss Broomhilda too," Katie said wistfully. "If only it were not so hard to find the Rainbow Bridge..."

"Do not fret," Freya said as she began to vanish. "You will find it again one day ..." And as Freya's last words echoed across the dimensional barrier, tears came to Katie's eyes. She really missed her Aesir friend.

Jack put his arm over Katie's shoulder protectively. "Don't worry, Katie," he whispered encouragement to her, "we _will_ go back someday."

"I wish WE could dimension walk like Freya," Julie said.

The mortal children are acutely aware that they are the center of attention as they walk into the main research room. There are a lot of high power occult types there, which is a side effect of breaching the trans-dimensional barriers in 1998. All kids on Earth II have latent telepathic ability, that kind of sixth sense that warns of danger, but it is usually lost in the chaos of adolescence. Right now, that sense of danger is very strong as the children follow Juggernaut into the dim bowls of the occult library. Alex looked around apprehensively at the many cowl shrouded figures, some of which were only vaguely humanoid in shape and as large or larger than Juggernaut. He nudged Allison and whispered "I think we had better get in, get what we can about Cytorrak and the jewel and then get the flock outa here."

"Yes," Allison said, "I agree, get what we can and get the _flock outa Dodge_."

Jack leaned over to Franklin and said: "_I've got a bad feeling about this_."

Franklin: "Yeah, me too."

"You two sound like STAR WARS!" Katie whispered nervously. Jack grinned at her and gives her the "A-OK" sign.

In the reference room, Allison, Alex and Julie begin their research amid several seemingly elderly men in various exotic robes and turbans. There are even some who are totally wrapped up in their robes, a brief accidental glance convinces Julie that she doesn't really want to be curious about the alien shapes concealed beneath the thick folds of cloth. Cain and the younger kids have taken over a wide sofa in the entrance foyer, with, surprisingly enough, Cain 'baby-sitting' the younger members of _Power Pack_.

"Good," Alex mutters as he sits down in front of one of the computers and begins to tap on the keys.

What is it?" asked Julie.

"This is UNEX, an operating system I'm familiar with," Alex said. "It'll speed things up some. This is an old Xerox Sigma-9 ... probably linked to an elderly Cray XM-P in the basement ... _hah_! Those were the "super" computers in the 1980s."

"And now?" Julie asked.

"My CompuPal has more 'oomph' than the Sigma-9," Alex bragged. "And the Digitalics minicomputer at school is MUCH more powerful than the old XM-P."

"Okay," Allison said. "Let's get organized. You call off stuff and Julie and I will try to find it. Just like school, except with ghost monsters!"

For fifteen minutes, Alex scrolled through literally thousands of references to Cytorrak, its Jewel and Korean mythology in general. "There is too much data here," Alex muttered. "JACK!" Alex yelled. He was immediately sorry he had. Every eye and sensory device on every creature turned toward him.

"You screamed, _Mon Capitan_?" Jack appeared at his side.

Alex was still looking around the room at the various occult creatures, thankfully most of which had returned to their own studies. "Jack," Alex whispered. "I need a DVD disk, they'll probably sell them at the front desk." Alex dug in his pocket and pulled out a $5. "Buy one. And the change is mine."

"Okay," Jack said and was gone.

"What was that all about," Julie hissed in his ear. "Are you TRYING to get us in trouble?"

"No," Alex said sheepishly, "It's just that I forgot where we were. There is much more here than we will be able to analyze without Friday's help."

Jack returned with the disk, "That guy tried to cheat me," Jack complained. "Thought I didn't know how much a DVD cost."

"It's okay Jack," Alex said. "We just wanna get out with the data. Julie. I need you to scan some of these old hard copy texts."

Julie smiled, "Okay," she said. "I'll start scanning data from the ancient volumes of forgotten lore. "Nevermore"

"Okay, Ms.. Poe. Just be sure the data files are clear so Friday will be able to absorb them."

While the big kids have been busy, so have the little kids, with Juggernaut. They discuss many things, among them, Cain's past battles with the X-Man and Spiderman. Franklin hearing Cain mutter something about _that two-bit Son Of a Bitch, Prof. X,_ remarks that he'd always though that Charles Xavier was a GOOD man. Katie asked unhappily how anyone could hate his own brother so much. Juggernaut, actually ashamed that he's upset Katie so much asks her how she'd like it if there was a kid in THEIR house who could read minds, who got good grades, could do anything better than everyone else. Everyone always liked Charles better ...

"That sounds like my big brother, Alex," Katie said innocently. "He can do anything. He gets good grades and he's smarter than anyone else ... except Daddy of course."

Juggernaut scowled toward the boy hunched over the computer terminal. "Yeah," he mutters, "That snot nose sure looks a lot like my _nose in the air brother_, Charles." But like with Jack, Cain was slowly changing his opinion of Alex -- and after all, the boy was helping him.

Katie, after listening to accounts of buildings smashed and skyscrapers toppled, feels quite an affinity for Cain. She tries to cheer him up by telling him: "I broke a Snark spaceship once, back when I was still Energizer." She pats his arm, "And anyway, I still like you. But don't you have ANY friends?"

Juggernaut scowled. "Not really," he said. "Except for Black Tom Cassidy, and his niece Theresa Siryn Rourke. THEY are my friends. In fact this whole _SNAFU_ started because I wanted to get Tom a birthday gift."

"What is a SNAFU?" Katie asked.

"Situation Normal: All Pha---" Juggernaut started. "Uhh -- Err. Well, lets say part of that is not something kids should say."

"Hah!" Jack grinned, "I know what it means! But lets get back to the story you were starting. The birthday gift was the Jewel?"

"Yeah. This birthday gift was the Jewel of Cytorrak that I had seen in Korea during the Eugenics War. Tom really, really loves gems of all kinds. I think he likes the bright pure colors. And the Jewel of Cytorrak, a ruby, bigger than I've ever seen. It was a real beauty."

"I like bright shinny things too," Franklin said in a small voice.

"Yeah," Jack added. "You should see Franklin's collection of clearie marbles, red, yellow, green, blue and a lot of other colors."

"Like I said, Tom likes gemstones, so I took a little side trip to Korea and -- well -- I kinda borrowed the Jewel of Cytorrak from the temple it was in..."

"You STOLE it?" Katie and Franklin asked together.

"Yes, I guess I did." Cain blushed in embarrassment. "Everything seemed to go well at the party, we were all having a really good time, and then I gave the Jewel to Tom. He was really happy with it, but as soon as he touched the Jewel, the power of the Juggernaut was divided between the two of us."

"TWO Juggernauts," Jack said in awe. "That must really have been cool -- even if each of you were only had half the power of the original."

"It was then that Spiderman and the X-Men showed up to crash the party," Cain continued. "Tom was just beginning to get the feel of his new Juggernaut abilities which Tom also enjoyed a lot., and in the heat of battle Rogue managed to suck out all my power by touching me. The shock was so great that I was unconscious for awhile.

"Yeah," Jack said. "I saw that fight on the TV news last year, you were great! Tom too," Jack said.

"Yeah, until I took and threw the Jewel into orbit, I've been getting weaker ever since."

"Maybe if you put the Jewel back ..." Katie began.

"Har Haw, Hee HEE!" Cain laughed, "We'd need a spaceship to do THAT!" he said, much too loudly.

"As a matter of fact ..." Jack began.

"Shhhh! Jack," Katie and Franklin hissed at him, anticipating his next words.

"...We _do_ have a spaceship," Jack whispers. Juggernaut was not sure if he should believe this or not, there are so many things happening at once.

"C'mon you guys," Alex said. The senior member of _Power Pack_ had aquired an eclectic following of _watcher_ type occult beings and magic users, all appearently interested in whether this group of mortal children would be able to get out of the research center alive or not.

Julie and Allison had taken to standing back to back against the onslaught of the various creatures that reached out to the girls with long boney fingers, claws, and tentacles. A bewildering cacophony of grunts, wheezes, glottal clicks and snarles came from the pack. Suddenly a giant hand closed around one of the stalkers. The hand belonged to Cain Marko. The snared creature let out a sound like a dog's whimper and the rest of the pack instantly disappeared.

"I think it's time we bid a fond farewell to the Stephen Strange Research Center," Allison said softly.

A librarian, Alex was sure it was the man who they had first encountered, stepped out of a pool of inky shadow and waved a hand at the huge double iron-bound oaken doors leading back to the 21st century.

"Yes," the librarian said. "I think that would be best. Some of the watchers are impatient, and they _might_ take it into their heads to cause something to happen worth watching, after all, it is not every day they get to observe such -- er -- _tastey_ human morsels as yourselves."

All six members of Power Pack broke and ran for the outside world. _"Discretion is the better part of valour,"_ Alex said as he crossed the threashold back into the normal world of 2008 Manhattan.

* * *

A half hour later, getting off the MetroLink at 78th Street and Central Park West, Allison remarked that it was odd that a group of kids traveling with the Juggernaut did not seem to attract much attention from the public at large. A few kids paused to stare, but none of the adults paid any attention to them. 

"That's one of the advantages of being Juggernaut," Marko bragged. "People don't seem to notice me unless I want them to. Normally, most people don't even see me."

"But _WE_ can see you..." Katie started.

"Yeah," Cain said slowly. "I don't know exactly why. Ask Professor Poindexter over there," Cain said indicating Alex.

"Uhh --" Alex groaned, thinking fast.

"_Whatza matter hotshot? No answers?_"

Something inside Alex snapped and he turned on the Juggernaut. "Look, Mr. Marco, I'm sorry that you've had trouble with people before, but that's no reason to blame me! I've never done anything to you. And you might want to remember that if anyone is going to help get your fat fanny out of this mess, it'll probably be ME and _Power Pack_."

_Oh jezus_! Jack thought. _We're gonna have to fight this bozo. I hope Allison has the brains to get Franklin and Katie out of the way_..."

Cain Marko stood there, silent and towering over the twelve-year-old boy. It had been decades since anyone had dared to speak to him in that fashion. The rage inside him wanted to smash the little punk into a smear of strawberry jam ... but for the first time in many years, another sector of his mind argued that the boy was right. Even though the youngster was too smart for his own good, _which in itself caused the pool of rage in him to boil_ he was trying to help.

Marko took a deep breath and did something he had not done for many years. "You're right, uh ... Alex. I'm sorry."

"Good!" Katie said to Cain, as she leaned back against Allison. "I don't like it when you and Alex are mad at each other."

The Roxie theater at 121 W. 78th Street had been where the Power children had originally planned to go to the movies. But that was before Juggernaut had entered their plans. It had quickly become apparent that they would require the services of Friday if they are to have any hope of recovering the Jewel, which everyone agreed was the logical first step to relieving Cain's problem.

"We'd better do something about mom and lunch too," Julie reminded Alex.

"Yeah," Alex acknowledged. "It's already 11:40."

"I've got it," Jack said. "We call mom, tell her that we are at the Roxie and if we don't go right now, we won't get out in time to be home before dark. THEN we wait till next week for the movie, and use Friday to help Juggernaut get the Jewel back."

Alex and Julie looked at each other. Except for the fibbing the plan did cover all bases. By silent consensus they agreed and Alex said: "Good plan, Jack. Allison, can you stick around for the afternoon?"

"Sure, I had planned to spend the day with you anyway, we might as well do something good at the same time."

"Super," Alex breathed a sigh of relief as he dug the cellphone out of his jacket's breast pocket and dialed the Power's home number. "Hi, mom. It's Alex."

"And let me guess, you're having so much fun, you want to skip lunch," his mother laughed.

"Uhh, yes," Alex said caught off balance by his mother's intuition. "It's just that we're at the Roxie now, and they have a double feature: _Godzilla vs The Legion Of Superheroes_, and _Bahzargon, Beast from the 17th Dimension_" The show lasts four hours and thirty five minutes, that won't leave much time to get home before dark."

"All right," mom laughed. "Just be sure that you ARE home before dark."

"Don't worry mom, I want to go to the big party with Allison tonight. Bye mom," Alex said quickly, not wanting to give his mother a chance to comment on the party.

"This is so exciting," Allison said. "I'm going to go on a ride in an alien starship. I can hardly wait to meet Friday."

"Julie," Alex said. "Work your magik."

Julie smiled and winked at Allison. Her Kymellian costume flickered into solid reality around her lithe body. "Molecula to Friday," the girl said in a loud steady voice. "Molecula to Friday. Beam me up Scotty."

There was a momentary crackle of static from Julie's suit radio and Friday's vaguely electronic voice seemed to come at them from all directions. "I am sorry, Julie, I do not have the ability to _beam_ anyone up."

"I know Friday, I was only kidding. We need your help on something."

"Going on another adventure?" Friday asked.

"Well ..."

"I am already on the way."

"Thank you Friday," Julie said.

"Julie, wait," Katie said upset. "How will Friday find us? We're not at home."

"Umm...?" Julie said.

"Do not worry, Katie, I already have a sensor lock on you, your brothers, Julie and two others. You are on the west side of Grand Central Park, opposite 78th Street. I will be there in three minutes."

"Oh," Katie said in an embarrassed voice. "I remember now."

The weather had turned nasty again and the ground hugging fog from earlier that morning had returned, this time accompanied by a cold drizzle and an icy stiff breeze straight off the Long Island Sound. While they waited for Friday to arrive, the Juggernaut and _Power Pack_ huddled under a MTD bus shelter.

_As if we don't have enough trouble,_ Alex thought as he watched the fog close off visitability at about a meter. Actually, Alex realized, the bad weather was a blessing in disguise. Sure it was cold and wet, but because of that there were less pedestrians out and drivers were totally absorbed with trying to navigate the pea-soup fog. Perfect weather for the landing of an alien smartship in the heart of one of the Earth's most populous islands.

"Shhhh!" Jack suddenly shushed the small talk. "Listen! I can hear Friday." From somewhere out in the steel gray fog which had lifted somewhat locally to allow a visual range of three or four meters came the throbbing, heartbeat like hum of Friday's ion thrusters. As they waited, the sound grew in volume, and then the silver hull of the Kymellian Smartship broke through into the island of relative clear around _Power Pack_. Because of the possibility of the fog suddenly lifting to reveal the presence of the Kymellian smartship in Grand Central Park, Friday immediately lifted off and within minutes, they are high above earth in an eccentric nearly hyperbolic orbit.

When everyone was settled into one of Friday's _beanbag_ chairs, Alex introduces the Juggernaut and tells Friday about the troubles that Cain is having, and that _Power Pack_ promiced to help him. "This is all the information on Cytorrak we could find," Alex said, giving Friday the optical disk. "We need you to go through this data and summarize it for us," Alex explained.

"To say nothing of actually retrieving the gemstone," Jack added.

"All right, Alex," Friday agreed. "It will take my processors several minutes to sift through the data that you have brought. In the interim I suggest that we might get your newest team member a costume of her own."

"Great," Alex said. "Thank you, Friday."

"My own costume?" Allison said awed. "I don't know what to say. Just this morning I was dreaming of how neat it would be to BE in _Power Pack_ and have my own costume, and now it's all coming true."

"Allison, if you will please stand here," a circular dais about a half meter wide rose a dozen centimeters above Friday's brushed aluminium deck plating. Allison stepped up onto the dais and stood up straight, like her mother was always telling her to do. A bright yellow-white light bathed the young girl and a focused beam of laser red quickly scanned over her entire body from head to toe. When the scan was completed, the yellow-white aura switched off and the dias sank back into the deck.

"The actual first time fabrication will only take a few seconds," Friday said. "Completed. Do you want to try your costume?"

"Can I?" Allison asked.

"Of course, simply think of your desire for your Power Pack costume and say 'costume on'. When you are finished, simply say 'costume off'."

Allison glanced at Alex, who nodded encouragement.

Allison took a deep breath and whispered: "Costume on!" Instantly Allison's street clothes were replaced by a body hugging coverall of metalic green and the trade mark silver boots of a Kymellian exploration uniform.

"It's beautiful!" Julie and Katie said in unison.

"And check out her cool symbol," Alex said, pointing at Allison's chest. On it was her character's crest, a red disk half covering a larger gold disk on an inky black background.

Allison struck a pose like a comic book superhero.

"Welcome to Power Pack, Eclipse," Jack said and formally shook hands with the newest preadolescent superhero.

**To Be Continued**

**

* * *

**


End file.
